Berlin: Best Director

1. Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias

Director | Cocote

Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias was born in 1985 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He is a director and writer, known for Cocote (2017), Pepe (2024) and Santa Teresa Y Otras Historias (2015).

2024: Pepe

2. Philippe Garrel

Writer | Les amants réguliers

Philippe Garrel was born on April 6, 1948 in Paris, France. He is a writer and director, known for Regular Lovers (2005), I Can No Longer Hear the Guitar (1991) and Liberté, la nuit (1984).

2023: Le grand chariot

The films of Claire Denis frequently explore the fragile connections between people and the ways in which the most seemingly inconsequential relationship can have life-changing effects. At the heart of Denis' cinema is a fascination with the delights and difficulties of belonging and otherness, the...

2022: Both sides of the blade fire

4. Dénes Nagy

Director | Természetes fény

Dénes Nagy was born in 1980 in Budapest, Hungary. He is a director and writer, known for Natural Light (2021), Másik Magyarország (2013) and Soft Rain (2013).

2021: Natural light

5. Hong Sang-soo

Director | Ji-geum-eun-mat-go-geu-ddae-neun-teul-li-da

Hong Sang-soo was born on October 25, 1960 in Seoul, Korea. He is a director and writer, known for Right Now, Wrong Then (2015), Night and Day (2008) and The Woman Who Ran (2020).

2020: The woman who ran

6. Angela Schanelec

Director | Ich war zuhause, aber

Angela Schanelec was born on February 14, 1962 in Aalen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. She is a director and actress, known for I Was at Home, But... (2019), The Dreamed Path (2016) and Music (2023). She was previously married to Juergen Gosch.

2019: I was at home, but

7. Wes Anderson

Director | Fantastic Mr. Fox

Wesley Wales Anderson was born in Houston, Texas. His mother, Texas Ann (Burroughs), is an archaeologist turned real estate agent, and his father, Melver Leonard Anderson, worked in advertising and PR. He has two brothers, Eric and Mel. Anderson's parents divorced when he was a young child, an ...

2018: Isle of dogs

8. Aki Kaurismäki

Producer | Le Havre

Aki Kaurismäki did a wide variety of jobs including postman, dish-washer and film critic, before forming a production and distribution company, Villealfa (in homage to Jean-Luc Godard's Alphaville (1965)) with his older brother Mika Kaurismäki, also a film-maker. Both Aki and Mika are prolific ...

2017: The other side of hope

9. Mia Hansen-Løve

Director | L'avenir

Cinema came into Mia Hansen-Løve's life when she was seventeen, as Olivier Assayas made her start as an actress in Late August, Early September (1998). Two years later, he gave her the part of "Aline" in his Les Destinées (2000). Their artistic collaboration was coupled by a union in real ...

2016: L'avenir

10. Malgorzata Szumowska

Director | W imie...

One of the most prominent Polish directors of today, Malgorzata Szumowska was born in Kraków in 1973. She's been directing, writing and producing feature and documentary films and has received numerous awards at international and Polish film festivals. After two noticed shorts, her first feature ...

2015: Cialo (Body)

11. Radu Jude

Director | Toata lumea din familia noastra

Radu Jude is a Romanian film director and screenwriter. In 2003, he graduated from the Media University of Bucharest (Film Directing Department). Jude worked as an assistant director on Amen. (2002), directed by Costa-Gavras, and The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (2005), directed by Cristi Puiu. He ...

2015: Aferim!

12. Richard Linklater

Director | Waking Life

Self-taught writer-director Richard Stuart Linklater was born in Houston, Texas, to Diane Margaret (Krieger), who taught at a university, and Charles W. Linklater III. Richard was among the first and most successful talents to emerge during the American independent film renaissance of the 1990s. ...

X2 2014: Boyhood 1995: Before sunrise

13. David Gordon Green

Producer | Halloween Kills

David Gordon Green was born on April 9, 1975 in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Halloween Kills (2021), Prince Avalanche (2013) and Halloween (2018).

2013: Prince Avalanche

14. Christian Petzold

Director | Barbara

Christian Petzold was born in Hilden in 1960. After studying German and Drama at the Freie Universität Berlin, he enrolled in Berlin's German Academy for Film and Television (DFFB). There he studied film direction while at same time working as an assistant director to Harun Farocki and Hartmut ...

2012: Barbara

15. Ulrich Köhler

Director | Bungalow

Ulrich Köhler was born on December 15, 1969 in Marburg, Hesse, Germany. He is a director and writer, known for Bungalow (2002), Sleeping Sickness (2011) and In My Room (2018).

2011: Sleeping sickness

16. Roman Polanski

Director | Chinatown

Roman Polanski is a Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few truly international filmmakers. Roman Polanski was born in Paris in 1933.

His parents returned to Poland from France in 1936, three years ...

2010: The ghost writer

17. Asghar Farhadi

Writer | Forooshande

Asghar Farhadi was born in 1972 in Iran. He became interested in cinema in his teenage years and started his filmmaking education by joining the Youth Cinema Society of Esfahan in 1986 where he made 8mm and 16mm short films. He received his Bachelors in Theater from University of Tehran's School of...

2009: About Elly

18. Paul Thomas Anderson

Director | Punch-Drunk Love

Anderson was born in 1970. He was one of the first of the "video store" generation of film-makers. His father was the first man on his block to own a V.C.R., and from a very early age Anderson had an infinite number of titles available to him. While film-makers like Spielberg cut their teeth making...

2008: There will be blood

19. Joseph Cedar

Writer | Hearat Shulayim

Joseph Cedar was born on August 31, 1968 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a writer and director, known for Footnote (2011), Our Boys (2019) and Campfire (2004). He is married to Vered Kelner.

2007: Beaufort

20. Mat Whitecross

Director | The Road to Guantanamo

Mat Whitecross was born on September 21, 1977 in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK. He is a director and editor, known for The Road to Guantanamo (2006), A Mighty Heart (2007) and Red Nose Day Actually (2017).

2006: The road to Guantanamo

21. Michael Winterbottom

Director | A Mighty Heart

Michael took an English degree at Oxford then trained in film at Bristol and London breaking into television via the cutting room at Thames Television. He made his directorial debut with two documentaries on Ingmar Bergman His production of Love Lies Bleeding won the Silver Award at the 1993 New ...

2006: The road to Guantanamo

22. Marc Rothemund

Director | Sophie Scholl - Die letzten Tage

After graduating from high school in 1988, Rothemund initially began working as a production manager and assistant director for his father and other filmmakers such as Bernd Eichinger. In 1994 he assisted French director Gérard Corbiau in the filming of the Oscar-nominated drama "Farinelli". ...

2005: Sophie Scholl: The final days

23. Kim Ki-duk

Writer | Bin-jip

He studied fine arts in Paris in 1990-1992. In 1993 he won the award for Best Screenplay from the Educational Institute of Screenwriting with "A Painter and A Criminal Condemned to Death". After two more screenplay awards, he made his directorial debut with Crocodile (1996) ("Crocodile"). Then he ...

2004: Samaritan girl

24. Patrice Chéreau

Director | Intimacy

Patrice Chéreau was born on November 2, 1944 in Lézigné, Maine-et-Loire, France. He was a director and actor, known for Intimacy (2001), The Last of the Mohicans (1992) and Queen Margot (1994). He died on October 7, 2013 in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine, France.

2003: His brother

25. Otar Iosseliani

Director | La chasse aux papillons

Otar Iosseliani was born on February 2, 1934 in Tiflis, Transcaucasian SFSR, USSR [now Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia]. He was a director and writer, known for La chasse aux papillons (1992), Winter Song (2015) and Et la lumière fut (1989). He died on December 17, 2023 in Tbilisi, Georgia.

2002: Monday morning

26. Cheng-sheng Lin

Director | Chun hua meng lu

Cheng-sheng Lin was born in 1959 in Taitung, Taiwan. He is a director and writer, known for A Drifting Life (1996), Yue guang xia wo ji de (2005) and Betelnut Beauty (2001).

2001: Betelnut beauty

27. Milos Forman

Director | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Milos Forman was born Jan Tomas Forman in Caslav, Czechoslovakia, to Anna (Svabova), who ran a summer hotel, and Rudolf Forman, a professor. During World War II, his parents were taken away by the Nazis, after being accused of participating in the underground resistance. His father died in ...

2000: Man on the moon

28. Stephen Frears

Director | Dangerous Liaisons

Stephen started off in a career in the legal profession before switching to work as an assistant stage manager at London's Royal Court which led to work as an assistant director on films by Karel Reisz and Lindsay Anderson He directed his first short in 1967 and his feature debut, Gumshoe, in 1971....

1999: The Hi-Lo country

29. Neil Jordan

Writer | The Crying Game

Neil Jordan was born on February 25, 1950 in Sligo, Ireland. He is a writer and producer, known for The Crying Game (1992), Greta (2018) and Breakfast on Pluto (2005). He has been married to Brenda Rawn since June 30, 2004. They have two children. He was previously married to Vivienne Shields.

1998: The butcher boy

30. Éric Heumann

Writer | Port Djema

Éric Heumann is known for Port Djema (1997), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) and 2046 (2004).

1997: Port Djema

31. Ho Yim

Director | Tian guo ni zi

Ho Yim was born in 1952 in Hong Kong. He is a director and writer, known for The Day the Sun Turned Cold (1994), Kitchen (1997) and The Sun Has Ears (1995).

1996: The sun has ears

32. Richard Loncraine

Director | Richard III

Richard Loncraine has earned great acclaim for his work in film, television and commercials. He studied sculpture at the Central School of Art before attending the Royal College of Art Film School. He spent three years working for the BBC before moving into commercials. Since those days he has ...

1996: Richard III

33. Krzysztof Kieslowski

Writer | Trois couleurs: Bleu

Krzysztof Kieslowski graduated from Lódz Film School in 1969, and became a documentary, TV and feature film director and scriptwriter. Before making his first film for TV, Przejscie podziemne (1974) (The Underground Passage), he made a number of short documentaries. His next TV title, Personnel (...

1994: Three colors: White

34. Andrew Birkin

Writer | Der Name der Rose

Andrew Birkin was born on December 9, 1945 in London, England, UK. He is a writer and director, known for The Name of the Rose (1986), Burning Secret (1988) and The Cement Garden (1993).

1993: The cement garden

35. Jan Troell

Director | Här har du ditt liv

Jan Troell was born on July 23, 1931 in Limhamn, Malmö, Skåne län, Sweden. He is a director and cinematographer, known for Here Is Your Life (1966), The Emigrants (1971) and Il capitano (1991). He is married to Agneta Ulfsäter-Troell. They have one child.

1992: Il capitano: A Swedish Requiem

36. Jonathan Demme

Director | The Silence of the Lambs

Jonathan Demme was born on February 22, 1944 in Baldwin, Long Island, New York, USA. He was a director and producer, known for The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Rachel Getting Married (2008) and Philadelphia (1993). He was married to Joanne Howard and Evelyn Purcell. He died on April 26, 2017 in ...

1991: The silence of the lambs

37. Ricky Tognazzi

Director | Ultrà

Ricky Tognazzi was born on May 1, 1955 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He is an actor and director, known for Ultrà (1991), Canone Inverso (2000) and La scorta (1993). He has been married to Simona Izzo since June 1995. He was previously married to Flavia Toso.

1991: Ultrà

38. Michael Verhoeven

Director | Das schreckliche Mädchen

Michael Verhoeven was born on July 13, 1938 in Berlin, Germany. He is a director and writer, known for The Nasty Girl (1990), My Mother's Courage (1995) and Sonntagskinder (1980). He has been married to Senta Berger since September 26, 1966. They have two children.

1990: The nasty girl

39. Dusan Hanák

Director | Ja milujem, ty milujes

Dusan Hanák was born on April 24, 1938 in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia [now Slovakia]. He is a director and writer, known for I Love, You Love (1989), Pictures of the Old World (1972) and Ruzové sny (1977).

1989: I love, you love

40. Norman Jewison

Director | Jesus Christ Superstar

Norman Jewison was an award-winning, internationally acclaimed filmmaker who produced and directed some of the world's most memorable, entertaining and socially important films, exploring controversial and complicated subjects and giving them a universal accessibility. Some of his most well-known ...

1988: Moonstruck

41. Oliver Stone

Director | JFK

Oliver Stone has become known as a master of controversial subjects and a legendary film maker. His films are filled with a variety of film angles and styles, he pushes his actors to give Oscar-worthy performances, and despite his failures, has always returned to success.

William Oliver Stone was ...

1987: Platoon

42. Giorgi Shengelaia

Director | Pirosmani

Giorgi Shengelaia was born on May 11, 1937 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia]. He was a director and writer, known for Pirosmani (1969), Veris ubnis melodiebi (1973) and Voyage of the Young Composer (1985). He was married to Nina Ketevan and Sofiko Chiaureli. He died on February 17, 2020 in ...

1986: A trip of young composer

43. Robert Benton

Writer | Kramer vs. Kramer

Robert Douglas Benton is an American screenwriter and filmmaker from Waxahachie, Texas who is known for screenwriting Bonnie & Clyde, Kramer vs. Kramer and Superman. He won two Academy Awards for writing and directing Kramer vs. Kramer. He directed other feature films including Twilight, Bad ...

1985: Places in the heart

44. Ettore Scola

Writer | Una giornata particolare

Ettore Scola was born on May 10, 1931 in Trevico, Campania, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for A Special Day (1977), The Family (1987) and Passion of Love (1981). He was married to Gigliola. He died on January 19, 2016 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

1984: Le bal

45. Éric Rohmer

Director | Ma nuit chez Maud

Admirers have always had difficulty explaining Éric Rohmer's "Je ne sais quoi." Part of the challenge stems from the fact that, despite his place in French Nouvelle Vague (i.e., New Wave), his work is unlike that of his colleagues. While this may be due to the auteur's unwillingness to conform, ...

1983: Pauline at the beach

46. Mario Monicelli

Writer | I compagni

Mario Monicelli was born on May 16, 1915 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for The Organizer (1963), Speriamo che sia femmina (1986) and Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958). He was married to Chiara Rapaccini and Antonella Salerni. He died on November 29, 2010 in Rome, Lazio,...

X3 1982: The Marquis of Grillo 1976: Caro Michele 1957: Fathers and sons

47. István Szabó

Director | Sunshine

István Szabó was the first director to bring home to Hungary the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. The movie receiving the award was his 1981 film Mephisto. In January 2006, it became public that he had been an agent of the III/III department, a former communist agency of interior intelligence....

1980: Bizalom (Confidence)

48. Astrid Henning-Jensen

Director | Vinterbørn

Astrid Henning-Jensen was born on December 10, 1914 in Copenhagen, Denmark. She was a director and writer, known for Winterborn (1978), Early Spring (1986) and Øjeblikket (1980). She was married to Bjarne Henning-Jensen. She died on January 5, 2002 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

1979: Winterborn

49. Georgi Djulgerov

Director | Leydi Zi

Georgi Djulgerov graduated the VGIK Film School in Moscow in 1970. He has directed feature films that took part in the Berlin, Locarno, Oberhausen, Avelino, Palermo, Rotterdam, Montreal, San Francisco, Batumi (Georgia), Mons, Mannheim-Heidelberg, and Saraevo film festivals. His movies were shown in...

1978: Advantage

50. Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón

Writer | Demonios en el jardín

Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón was born on January 2, 1942 in Torrelavega, Cantabria, Spain. He is a writer and director, known for Demonios en el jardín (1982), Maravillas (1981) and Habla, mudita (1973).

1977: Black litter

51. Sergey Solovyov

Writer | Sto dney posle detstva

Sergey Solovyov was born on August 25, 1944 in Kem, Karelo-Finnish SSR, USSR [now Republic of Karelia, Russia]. He was a writer and director, known for One Hundred Days After Childhood (1975), Spasatel (1980) and Chuzhaya belaya i ryaboy (1986). He was married to Tatyana Drubich, Marianna Kushnerova...

1975: One hundred days after childhood

52. Jean-Pierre Blanc

Director | La vieille fille

Jean-Pierre Blanc was born on April 23, 1942 in Charenton-le-Pont, Val-de-Marne, France. He was a director and writer, known for The Old Maid (1972), D'amour et d'eau fraîche (1976) and Un ange au paradis (1973). He died on May 21, 2004 in Saint-Cloud, Hauts-de-Seine, France.

1972: The old maid

53. Carlos Saura

Writer | Carmen

Spanish director, writer, producer (2 films) and actor (2 films). His interest in cinema started when he was very young. His mother, who was a pianist, instilled in him the liking for music, and his brother, Antonio, who was a painter, the passion for art. When he was an teenager he started to ...

X2 1968: Peppermint Frappé 1966: La caza (The Hunt)

54. Zivojin Pavlovic

Writer | Rdece klasje

Zivojin Pavlovic was born on April 15, 1933 in Sabac, Serbia, Yugoslavia. He was a writer and director, known for Rdece klasje (1970), When I Am Dead and Gone (1967) and Zadah tela (1983). He was married to Snezana Lukic. He died on November 29, 1998 in Belgrade, Serbia, Federal Republic of ...

1967: The rats woke up

55. Satyajit Ray

Writer | Pather Panchali

Satyajit Ray was born in Calcutta on May 2, 1921. His father, Late Sukumar Ray was an eminent poet and writer in the history of Bengali literature. In 1940, after receiving his degree in science and economics from Calcutta University, he attended Tagore's Viswa-Bharati University. His first movie ...

X2 1965: Charulata: The lonely wife 1964: Mahanagar (The great city)

56. Nikos Koundouros

Director | Mikres Afrodites

He studied painting and sculpture at the Athens School of Fine Arts from which he graduated in 1948.

Because of his left-wing political beliefs, he was exiled in Makronisos Island after the end of World War II

He started his career, as a director, at the age of 28, on 1954, with the film "Maghiki ...

1963: Young Aphrodites

57. Francesco Rosi

Writer | Cadaveri eccellenti

His father was a shipowner. After school, Rosi initially began studying law, which he soon dropped out to work as a broadcast journalist and book illustrator in Naples. From 1944 to 1945 he worked for "Radio Napoli". In the immediate post-war years, Rosi moved to Rome, where he came into contact ...

1962: Salvatore Giuliano

58. Bernhard Wicki

Director | The Longest Day

Bernhard Wicki was born on October 28, 1919 in St. Pölten, Lower Austria, Austria. He was an actor and director, known for The Longest Day (1962), The Bridge (1959) and The Miracle of Father Malachia (1961). He was married to Elisabeth Endriss and Agnes Fink. He died on January 5, 2000 in Munich, ...

1961: Miracle of Malachias

59. Jean-Luc Godard

Director | Bande à part

Jean-Luc Godard was born in Paris on December 3, 1930, the second of four children in a bourgeois Franco-Swiss family. His father was a doctor who owned a private clinic, and his mother came from a preeminent family of Swiss bankers. During World War II Godard became a naturalized citizen of ...

1960: À bout de souffle (Breathless)

60. Akira Kurosawa

Writer | Kakushi-toride no san-akunin

After training as a painter (he storyboards his films as full-scale paintings), Kurosawa entered the film industry in 1936 as an assistant director, eventually making his directorial debut with Sanshiro Sugata (1943). Within a few years, Kurosawa had achieved sufficient stature to allow him greater...

1959: The hidden fortress

61. Tadashi Imai

Director | Kome

Known for his social realist films, the Japanese director Tadashi Imai was mostly interested in depicting the tragedies of human life. Often described as 'nakanai realism', or 'a realism without tears', Imai's films show the hard struggles of the poor. Among his most appreciated films are Nigorie (...

1958: The story of pure love

62. Robert Aldrich

Director | Emperor of the North Pole

Robert Aldrich entered the film industry in 1941 when he got a job as a production clerk at RKO Radio Pictures. He soon worked his way up to script clerk, then became an assistant director, a production manager and an associate producer. He began writing and directing for TV series in the early ...

1956: Autumn leaves